


Stories are more than just words

by Sociallyawkwardwriter



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Festival di Sanremo RPF
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Gyms, Indie Music, M/M, One Shot, Short & Sweet, Social Media, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, so sweet you're gonna feel sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21782293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sociallyawkwardwriter/pseuds/Sociallyawkwardwriter
Summary: Ermal is an Indie musician who just moved to Milan to pursue his career. But there's this guy at his new gym that he just can't get out of his head.
Relationships: Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro, Ermal Meta/Fabrizio Moro
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	Stories are more than just words

The shutter went silently, no flash enlightening the narrow compartment. Ermal grinned at his screen, the result of his impromptu photoshoot making him feel pleased. He looked damn good today and his fans had a right to know it. Or so he reasoned with anyone who asked why he took so many elevator selfies.

He quickly brushed over his phone, his thumb hovering over the little icons, indecisive which app to post the photo to, he hadn't updated his Twitter in a while and people were getting impatient.

The elevator screeched to a stop at the next level, but Ermal didn't pay the opening doors any notice, too busy uploading the pic to his Instagram profile.

But he quickly shut down his phone when a smell entered his nostrils, a smell that had become familiar over the last weeks, a smell that was a little bit too much but also a smell that he had come to look forward to. A smell he had come to like.

"'Evening", he mumbled in a quiet greeting, not expecting anything more than a nod in return, just like always.

He tried his best not to stare at the man who had just entered the elevator next to him, but it was difficult, the harsh cheekbones dabbled with that salt and pepper beard, the cute button nose with the adorable freckles and those dark, deep eyes framed by those gorgeous lashes that were blinking up at him. Staring back at him.

Oh.

"Errr." The man started awkwardly, hopefully to end it with a 'would you like to go out with me'.

"Yes?"

And damn, if that wasn't a breathtaking smirk tugging at those lips, making Ermal's heart thump almost uncomfortably hard in his chest. Maybe he was having a heart attack.

"You're… standing right in front of the…"

Confused, Ermal turned his head, until his eyes landed on the buttons that he just so happened to be standing, as the man had said, right in front of. A dreading sense of realization extinguished the little spark of hope he had dared to enlightened.

"Oh, sorry. But you're also going to the gym right?"

And if Ermal didn't know better, he would even say that there was now a light blush coloring the cheeks of the man, a hand expertly covering his face as if he was trying to hide it.

"Yeah."

Ermal nodded, biting his lip, trying to think of something to say, something witty to continue the conversation, but the words that usually came to him easily refused to listen to him now.

The mechanical ding of the elevator disturbed his slowly panicking thoughts, the man jumping out of the little box as soon as the doors had opened, leaving Ermal with a sinking feeling in his stomach behind.

But it wasn't as if this was something Ermal wasn't used to. That was all that had been going now for weeks if he was being honest. A few words here or there, but nothing more. Only staring, or at least that was on Ermal's side. 

After his move to Milan to pursue his career as a musician more seriously, he had looked for a gym to go to, because staying even remotely in shape had turned out to be not as easy as soon as you hit thirty and he really wanted to spare himself the embarrassment of jogging outside.

So going to the gym it was and when he visited it for the first time, there was also a very nice instructor who showed him around and explained their equipment to him.

But to his shame, Ermal had to admit that it wasn't that but the beautiful man, running on the treadmill with hair sticking to his forehead, muscles bulging under tattooed skin that convinced him to keep coming here.

He had been so deep in thought, that he twitched in surprise when he felt a hand hitting his shoulder, Andrea, or Vige as he was told to call the instructor, grinning at him.

"Hey, good to see you! You've been coming here quite frequently, I have to say, I really admire your dedication!"

Ermal attempted to smile at the young man, even though he feared it might have been a bit shaky. Surely if Vige knew the whole reason he was coming here so often, he wouldn't think so highly of him anymore.

"Oh, you know, I don't get much work out because of my job and everything, so…"

"Yeah, no of course. Just the same for everyone, huh. Except for me." Andrea chuckled, obviously pleased with his joke and Ermal couldn't help joining him, his laughter was quite infectious.

"Speaking of, how is it going for you recently? You told me before you had this very important gig, right? How did it go?"

A gooey feeling started to spread in Ermal's stomach, the edges of his lips stretched almost painfully wide. He felt a growing affection towards Vige, the man always remembering the little things Ermal told him, no matter how trivial they were.

He slowly started to nod when he noticed Vige's dark puppy dog eyes still on him.

"Yeah, a few days ago. It was kind of a mess, but in the end, it went alright and they said they'll consider me for other engagements."

"That's great, isn't it? I'm so happy for you!"

Ermal bent down to tie his shoes, hiding his face behind his dark locks.

"Thank you."

"Come on, don't be modest! We should commemorate the occasion!"

Ermal arched his eyebrow.

"Commemorate?"

Vige nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, let's take a selfie!"

They grinned at each other like two schoolboys about to pull a prank before they stuck their heads together Ermal looking for a good angle.

"Geez, this is unfair! You look so much better than me!"

"What are you talking about? You're the one with the fan club."

Ermal groaned while fiddling with his phone, his eyes never leaving the screen.

"How do you know about that? Hey, is it okay if I post this to my Instagram?"

"I don't mind, but I don’t really use social media. You wanna brag about going to the gym?"

Ermal stuck out his tongue before quickly going back to his app, his fingers mindlessly flying over the screen, before finally posting the pic. He stretched, mentally preparing himself for the workout, about to put his phone away, when Vige appeared again at his shoulder.

"Show me?"

Without thinking, Ermal opened his stories, handing the phone over to Andrea, who took it from him excitedly grinning. But Ermal almost immediately regretted it, cursing himself for not thinking this through more carefully.

"What does this mean, it's not him? Who am I not?"

Ermal could feel his face heat up, quickly snatching the phone from Vige's hands.

"Nothing, forget about it." 

He mentally uttered a sigh of relief when Vige just shrugged it off before waving at Ermal and going back to work, telling him to let him know if he needed help with anything.

Ermal nodded, sliding his phone away with trembling fingers.

Him.

His followers knew all about him or at least just about as much as Ermal did.

He often came to the gym during the evenings and always did a lot of work on his arms. He didn't talk much and his arms were covered in tattoos. He was gorgeous, dedicated and probably didn't even know that Ermal existed.

He only greeted him with a nod when they met in the elevator.

And Ermal had a hopeless crush on him.

He had always been bad at keeping his feelings a secret, even if it was better to.

For example, that one time when he had fallen in love with his best friend's girlfriend.

Or that time he had crushed on his music teacher.

At least now, his outlet were his fans and followers that he could vent to, to get it off his chest.

And it seemed to work, seeing as Ermal hadn't yet confessed his undying love to the poor, unsuspecting man.

That was the advantage of being a fairly unknown independent artist. It made it difficult to survive sometimes, but the chances that something like this came back to bite him in the ass were incredibly low.

Or at least that's what he thought.

"You should just tell him."

Ermal groaned, tugging his plate of pasta closer to him, glaring at Silvia, who was sitting across from him, digging into her own plate.

"And you shouldn't eat carbs after a workout, you're going to get fat."

"Shut up", he grumbled, taking a bite.

"It's not that easy."

"What do you mean? Just have some salad or something."

He glared at her, taking another defying bite just to spite her.

"I wasn't talking about food."

"Oh." Silvia nipped at her wine glass, thoughtfully letting the liquid swirl in her mouth for a moment.

"Still, you should at least try. And if he's got any brains left after all that training, he'll see what a great catch you are and go out with you."

Ermal groaned, his fork hitting his plate with a clink.

„Can you please stop talking about this? It’s not gonna happen, okay?”

She grunted at him, heaping some pasta onto her fork.

“Whatever. Your own fault if he’s going to get snatched away right in front of your eyes.”

Ermal scoffed, his plate scraping over the table as he pushed it away from himself.

“I’m pretty sure he’s been snatched already.”

Except he wasn’t, not really, because there always seemed to be someone flirting with the guy and surely, if someone like that was already taken, that kind of rumor would have been all over the gym. So maybe not taken then, after all, but in that case, he probably wasn’t all that into having a relationship or was already in love with some unreachable person or –

“Come on, there’s dessert.”

He arched his eyebrow, smirking at Silvia, who set the pot of Tiramisu in front of him with a delightful smile on her face.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure it’s gonna be the pasta that is going to make me fat.”

“Shut up,” she said, without any bite to her voice. “You’re never going to get fat in your life, beanpole.”

He stuck out his tongue while leaning back to take a picture, Silvia’s skillful eye for decoration giving a beautiful backdrop for his shot.

 _Lovely evening with one of my closest friends – Hope you have a good one too, gym boyfriend_ 😉

There was a point when Ermal had to admit that it had gotten out of hand, people that were following him on his social media (and Ermal still found it weird to think of them as his fans) asking him about his crush, how his gym boyfriend was doing; if he was still working out regularly. And Ermal hated to admit that he liked that stupid game, liked to pretend even just for a minute that he wasn’t the coward that he was and had actually asked the man out.

Of course, it never lasted long, reality always managing to be a pain in the ass. When he remembered how beautiful the man looked when he was laughing with that girl that was always there on Mondays only. When he was talking with Andrea, with so many expressions on his face, the young man with the brown eyes engaging vividly during their discussion.

Ermal swallowed, the pain in his chest making him feel stupid. He was stupid, so stupid, he didn’t have any right to think about the man like that. Not when he couldn’t find the courage in himself to ask him out.

“Let’s eat.”

Silvia’s voice pulled him out of his dark thoughts and back into reality, her eyes soft as she held out the plate towards him, the sweet cream melting in his mouth and that made everything seem a little bit less dark.

The next day, he had wanted to practice with his friends, another gig already lined up in a few weeks that was making him nervous. But it went well, even with their new drummer, Emiliano, joining them, Ermal having met the young musician only recently at another concert of one of their mutual friends.

When they finished, he felt almost high, the adrenaline pumping through his veins, a smile stretching his lips thin.

“Any plans for today?”, Dino asked into the group, shouldering his bass. Marco shrugged, still kneeling in front of his guitar case.

“I’m going on a date later. Nothing exciting, just for some dinner. And you guys?”

“I’m going to the gym.”

Ermal realized he had made a mistake as soon as the words had left his mouth, his friends’ heads immediately turning towards him, Marco smirking at him.

“Oh? Aren’t you desperate?”

“Oh fuck off.” Ermal flipped him the bird, but the thought of seeing _him_ again made his stomach swoop.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Emiliano looked between them confused, straightening his glasses.

“Oh, just that Ermal has this ridiculous crush on that one guy who’s going to the same gym like him and it’s totally embarrassing.”

“It’s not!”

Dino cackled, earning him a glare.

“It really is. You haven’t even talked to him yet.”

“It’s hard!”, Ermal whined, glaring at his friends that seemed to be way too amused by all of this.

“Tell you what”, Marco suddenly said, his case falling shut with a dull thump as he stood up, standing right in front of Ermal, his hand stretched out towards him, balled into a fist.

“Rock paper scissors, best out of three. If you lose, you have to ask him out tonight.”

Ermal looked at him skeptically.

“And if I win?”

“Then we’ll never speak of it ever again.”

Ermal hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Okay, fine.”

Naturally, he lost.

_Lost in a game of Rock paper scissors against Marco of all people…_

_Guess who has to confess his undying love to his gym boyfriend now_ 😂

Yet Ermal didn’t feel like laughing at the moment, not at all, his stomach contracting, making him almost want to puke. He was so nervous, his hands were shaking when he pressed the button for the gym floor, the doors closing with a mechanic whirring in front of him.

He took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on the small display, slowly counting upwards. He still couldn’t believe it. He was going to do it today. He was really going to ask his gym boyfriend out today. Now.

Maybe he should’ve looked for other gyms in the neighborhood. Just in case.

A shrill ding pulled him out of his daydreams, the ride on the elevator seemed much shorter to him than usual. Cautiously he stepped outside, his gaze immediately skipping over the faces that already occupied the training room, some familiar, some not. But none of them made his heart beat faster.

He tried to calm himself down, changing his clothing. This only meant that he had some more time to prepare himself, some more time to practice the words in his head. He chanced a look at his phone, the corner of his mouth pulling up as he saw the various good luck wishes he had already received from his followers.

He quickly greeted Vige before starting his work out, but he couldn’t really concentrate, every time the door opened, his head jumped up, his heart beating in his throat, always expecting the familiar dark shock of unruly hair to appear on the threshold.

But he didn’t come.

_Sorry guys, I have to disappoint today! Seems like even gym boyfriends have their days off._

With a sigh, Ermal put his phone away, shouldering his bag and looking around the training room one last time. Of course, the man wasn’t there, he hadn’t been there for the whole time since Ermal entered the gym. Maybe he would have better luck next time.

But even the next time or the time after that, there was no sign of the gorgeous man.

“Maybe he got hurt”, Silvia mumbled distractedly, her eyes focused on her phone. “Or he’s got a cold. I’m sure he’ll be back in no time.”

“Or maybe he’s changed gyms and I’m never going to get to see him again.”

Ermal’s voice was muffled from the pillow he had smashed his face into, the dark cloth hindering his breathing. He looked up when he felt Silvia’s fingers gently brushing through his hair, but he almost couldn’t stand the pity in her eyes.

“Come on, sweetheart. I’m sure he’ll show up again today.”

Ermal hummed noncommitting, watching as she smiled at him one last time before getting up.

“It’s going to be fine.”

He rolled his eyes and without much thinking grabbed for his phone, mindlessly scrolling through his social media feeds, not really reading through anything. He wasn’t really in the mood to do anything at all really, he just wanted to enjoy his self-pity for a little while.

_Not feeling well today, so even though it’s going to make me feel bad, I’ll have to skip training… sorry, gym boyfriend._

He stared at his post, before he scoffed, letting the phone fall down slowly right next to him on the cushion of the couch.

As if that man was interested if he would be going or not. 

“Oh no, you’re not.”

He tried to heave up his head, glaring at Silvia who was standing at the door frame, glowering at him with her arms crossed in front of her chest, her phone grabbed tightly in her hand.

“Not what?”

“Skipping training. I’m not letting you turn into a miserable couch potato, just because your crush decided to change up his schedule.”

“But – “

“No buts. You’re going and if I have to take you to the gym myself.”

Ermal huffed and turned away, again hiding his face in the cushion.

“I can’t even sulk properly with you around.”

He didn’t twitch when her arm laid around his shoulder, the warmth a welcomed support.

“No. I wouldn’t let you.”

The cushion also hid his smile away from her, but Ermal was certain that she knew how much he appreciated her words.

And that’s why he was standing again in the elevator, his fingers nervously drumming against his thigh. The whole ride he tried to tell himself not to get his hopes up, surely the man wouldn’t be back today of all days and he should just give up, really.

Still, he could feel his stupid hope rising again inside of him with each level, until the doors opened at the gym, only about half an hour later than usual.

‘He’s not gonna be here’, he tried to tell himself, ‘don’t get your hopes up, he’s not gonna be here’.

“Oof.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”

Embarrassed, Ermal slowly loosened his hold on the person’s upper arm, he had been so deep in thought that he had basically stepped right into the man, his arm automatically trying to hold onto something and so he had grabbed the man’s arms. The man’s powerful, inked arms, arms that Ermal hadn’t been able to stop thinking about for the last few months. Just like the rest of his body.

“Oh!”

“Oh?”, the man echoed him, the small frown looking adorable on his beautiful face.

Ermal swallowed, his heart beating in his throat, not a single rational thought to be found in his brain.

“You… you haven’t been around for a while?”

The frown evened out on the man’s face, his expressions turning stiff and unreadable.

“Oh yeah. I’ve been busy.”

“I see”, Ermal nodded awkwardly, his tongue coming out to lick over too dry lips. He knew this was his chance now, this was the most they had ever spoken to another, it was his opportunity to ask the other man out, he just needed to open his mouth and –

“Glad to see you’re back.”

That was not what he had wanted to say. He cursed himself on the inside, biting his cheek. Why couldn’t he just say it? Why couldn’t he just ask this man out for a date or just a –

His thoughts came to a screeching halt, his heart thumping painfully in his chest.

The man was smiling at him.

Not a smirk or a grin, an actual, albeit a bit shy smile as he looked at him.

“Thanks.”

And Ermal could only nod as he watched on as the other man vanished inside the gym, the equipment quickly hiding him from Ermal’s sight. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, his shaking fingers almost desperately grabbing for his phone.

_Went to the gym after all and I’m very glad that I did! Because guess who’s back??? (and he even smiled at me). And no, I didn’t ask him out for a date. Yet. Wish me luck!_

He quickly posted the update, putting his phone away and taking another deep breath. He really needed to calm himself down if he wanted to ask the man out today. Deep breath. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, before hyping himself up, making his way to the changing rooms.

What he somehow failed to notice though, was the fact that, of course, the other man was also about to start his work out. And of course, he would also need to change his clothes for that.

“Umm.”

Apparently, he was very good at starting conversations today. But to be fair, he was just staring at the naked back right in front of him and damn, now Ermal knew exactly up to where those tattoos went and dear god, there were even more, dark lines drawing pattern on that beautiful skin and there was nothing more in the world, in that exact moment, that Ermal wanted to do than trace those lines with his fingers. Or, possibly, if he would be alright with that, his lips.

“Oh, hi again.”

Absentmindedly, Ermal noticed the man quickly put away his phone, but he was too busy acting as if he wasn’t blatantly staring that he didn’t think much of it, trying to distract himself by looking for an empty locker. When he finally found a space, he let his bag fall down with a dull thud and sighed, pulling out his work out clothing. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed that the other man was now wearing a shirt, apparently already finished, but he was still standing there, looking at Ermal almost expectantly.

Ermal tried to smile at him his most charming smile, even though he was sure that he must look pretty dorky.

“Is there something…”

The other man twitched, biting his lip and if Ermal didn’t know better, he would even say he looked almost disappointed.

“Oh, no. Sorry. I’ll better… go. Start my work out.”

Ermal took a deep breath, feeling another opportunity slipping through his fingers.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll see you around?”

He knew he sounded too hopeful, too expecting, but the other man didn’t seem to mind, a slight smile, not as bright as earlier, gracing his features.

“Yeah, see you around.”

He watched the other man leaving through the door and he actually had to suppress a wistful sigh as it fell shut behind him as if he was a heroine in a Jane Austen novel.

He shooed away those thoughts, quickly changing into his own clothing now as well, hoping that the training would distract him enough so that he could gather some clear thoughts later.

He left the changing room, waving at Vige as a greeting, who looked at him in surprise.

“What are you doing here?”

Ermal arched his eyebrow.

“Am I not allowed to be here anymore?”

“No, of course you are. I just thought you weren’t feeling well.”

Ermal stopped in his tracks, right next to the other man.

“How did you know? I thought you didn’t use social media.”

Vige snickered in reply, which only made Ermal’s eyebrow creep higher.

“Your fan told me.”

“My… what?”

“You don’t know him? He’s been following you for a while now and he was so excited when you started coming here.”

Ermal frowned.

“Really? No one ever talked to me about my music here.”

“I figured, Fabrizio’s weirdly shy when it comes to things like that.”

“Fabrizio?”

The name didn’t ring any bells with Ermal, there was no face that came to his mind.

“Yeah, but I bet you’ve seen him around before, your schedules collide pretty much all the time. Don’t worry, that’s just a coincidence, he came around the same time even before you joined, he’s not a weird stalker or anything.”

Ermal nodded slowly, not that he thought anyone would want to stalk him.

“Alright, so who…?”

Vige craned his neck, looking around the gym but only shrugged in the end.

“I can’t see him now, but I did see him coming in earlier today. He’s probably at the punching bags or something. Anyway, you can easily recognize him. He’s got dark hair and lots of tattoos all over his arms, oh, and there’s this sun tattoo on his hand? He’s quite the looker, too, if you’re into that style.”

Ermal swallowed, he could feel his hands starting to sweat. And oh boy, was he into that style. He noticed Vige looking at him weirdly, but he could barely hear himself speak over the roaring in his ears.

“Yeah”, he finally pressed through his lips. “I think I’ve seen him around.”

“You should try talking to him. I think you guys would get along great.”

Ermal hummed, noncommitting, looking on as Vige got distracted by another customer, who roped him into helping her with her exercises.

His mind was a complete mess, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to think about this new information.

His gym boyfriend had a name. Fabrizio. Fabrizio, who was following Ermal’s career and had been happy when Ermal started at the gym. Fabrizio, who also apparently read his social media posts. In which Ermal talked about his crush on gym boyfriend.

Oh lord.

He could feel his face starting to heat up, the realization sinking in.

Oh lord.

Fabrizio must have read the posts Ermal had made about his so-called gym boyfriend and at one point, he must have realized who Ermal was actually talking about.

Ermal took a deep breath, trying not to panic. Tried to remember that sweet smile the man, Fabrizio, had shown him earlier. Despite everything. Because of everything.

Surely it couldn’t be so bad when Fabrizio was still coming here and was even willingly talking to Ermal, right?

Maybe there was hope after all. Or maybe he was just a decent human being. Ermal really needed to figure out which one it was.

But the first thing he should do now was apologizing, yes.

He looked around for the boxing area, nervous energy zapping through him when he found it and indeed, a familiar figure was training there, the muscles in his arms enticingly tensing with his movements, but he stopped when he noticed Ermal approaching.

“Well”, the younger man huffed, leaning against the wall next to the punching bags, following Fabrizio’s movements with his eyes as the older man pulled off his boxing gloves, slowly unwrapping his knuckles.

“This is slightly awkward.”

Fabrizio stopped in his movements, glancing at Ermal from underneath his eyelashes.

“I guess.”

Ermal bit his lip, not sure how to continue and to be fair, watching Fabrizio move in that tight shirt had always been a distracting sight.

“Did Vige tell you?”

Ermal had to look up to meet Fabrizio’s gaze from where he had been staring at his hands.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.” Fabrizio finished unwrapping his knuckles and started to put his gloves away. “Actually, I probably should have told you right from the beginning.”

Ermal frowned. This conversation did not quite go as he expected. But he only cleared his throat, deciding to play along for the moment, Fabrizio taking his silence as his cue to go on.

“It was just… a friend of mine introduced me to your music because she’s really into all this indie stuff and I ended up really liking it, I mean, the lyrics are just so… powerful. They just want to make me _feel_ , you know.”

Fabrizio swallowed, averting his eyes and Ermal had to muster up all his self-restraint to not coo over the older man.

“And then you suddenly turned up here and I didn’t really know how to act, I didn’t want to come off as creepy but then I didn’t really know how to start the conversation and then… I kind of ended up not talking to you at all.”

Fabrizio stared at the floor, swallowing, his hands curled into tight fists. Ermal took a deep breath, the embarrassment he had felt earlier, rising up again.

“But…”, he slowly started, his lip coming out to lick over too dry lips. “You must have seen… right?”

Fabrizio frowned, the confusion distracting him enough that he finally dared to look up.

“Seen what?”

Ermal shuffled on his feet.

“My… posts.”

“Oh.”

The older man busied himself with grabbing his bag, but Ermal could still make out the way his face had changed, his heart beating hopefully in his chest.

“You had to realize who they were about, right?”

Fabrizio stopped his movements but didn’t look up and Ermal could see his throat moving as he swallowed.

“Not really.”

Ermal dared to take a step closer, so close he could smell the perfume the other was wearing, intertwined with the smell of fresh sweat.

“Bizio.”

He didn’t know where the nickname came from, he just knew that it made Fabrizio’s breath hitch and that was enough for him to be certain that he would be using it quite a lot in the near future.

“Not until today.”

Ermal could only stare for a moment, his thoughts a whirlwind in his mind.

“Really?”

Fabrizio shrugged, finally meeting Ermal’s gaze even though it was still hesitant.

“I mean, I guess I hoped? But then I thought it couldn’t possibly be, that I was imaging things and surely you were talking about someone else, like Vige, but then you posted the pic of you guys and you mentioned that it wasn’t him, so I got hope again, but I told myself not to get too into this, and, in the end, I may have or may not have skipped training because I didn’t want to see you confessing your crush to someone else.”

Fabrizio took a long breath after he finished rambling, the words tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall. He looked so cute, with his tattoos and the rough beard, Ermal melted just a little bit on the inside.

“Yeah, that was unfortunate”, Ermal started and despite everything, despite knowing that his interest was most certainly reciprocated, he felt his heart beating in his throat.

“Because then I couldn’t confess anything since my crush wasn’t here.”

He held his breath, waiting for Fabrizio to react, to do or say something, anything. He was so tense, he twitched when the bag Fabrizio had been holding flopped to the grey linoleum floor quietly, the man straightening his back, his shoulders tensing.

“You could tell him now?”

Ermal swallowed, taking a step closer to the other man, never breaking their eye contact and oh, Fabrizio was just that little bit shorter, just that little bit that would mean that Ermal would have to tilt his head slightly to fit their lips at just the right angle and damn, he wanted to see if he was right.

He cleared his throat, the nerves suddenly coming back to him.

“Ever since the first time I saw you, I kinda couldn’t stop thinking about you to the point that my friends started to make fun of me for it. And maybe I’m not really such a fitness freak and just came here so often to see you. I don’t know if that’s creepy but – “

“Hey, I’m the one stalking you on social media”, Fabrizio interrupted him with an awkward chuckle, scratching his neck.

Ermal bit his lip, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards.

“You’re a pretty bad stalker if you didn’t even realize that I was talking about you all the time.”

Fabrizio laughed out loud in surprise, quickly biting his lip when the other people turned towards them, but there was mirth in his eyes as he looked at Ermal, a twinkling that made Ermal’s stomach swoop.

The older man continued to chuckle quietly for a moment before they both calmed down, an awkward silence starting to grow between them.

Then Fabrizio cleared his throat, his hand coming up to restlessly rub over his neck.

“So”, he started, his voice barely audible over the noise of the gym, his gaze focused on his bag lying in front of him. “Didn’t you want to ask me something?”

Ermal’s breath hitched, his fingers twitching.

“Right, yeah”, he squawked, the thoughts in his mind racing.

“So, uhh… would you like to - ?”

“Yes.”

He chuckled nervously, glancing at Fabrizio from underneath his eyelashes.

“You didn’t even let me ask my question.”

The older man shrugged.

“Details.”

“Okay, so when – “

“Tomorrow, at seven. I’ll pick you up in front of the Duomo?”

Ermal chuckled and nodded, something about the eagerness of the other man finally calming his nerves.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

And suddenly there were comforting arms surrounding him, a warm body pressing against his.

“Yeah, me too.”

The rough voice so close to his ear made him shudder, his own hands slowly coming up to return the hug, but only for a second, before Fabrizio stepped away from him, a gentle smile on his face.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

And then he left, Ermal could only stare after him, his mind stopping for a second before his thoughts started to race, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. Yet Ermal knew that there was only one thing that mattered, as he fished for his phone with shaking fingers.

_He said yes!!!_

He stared at his post for a moment, feeling the corners of his mouth tugging up despite himself and he just wished that he would have been able to enjoy their hug just for a little bit longer.

He would get his wish after all the next day and when they met up, he was more prepared, easily answering the affectionate gesture, enjoying the smell and the warmth of the other man, enjoying the feel of Fabrizio’s hands against his body. And after hours and hours they spent together that felt like mere seconds, he even dared to reach out and entangle their fingers under their table as Fabrizio talked about his kids, the love for them shining bright in his eyes, making a gooey-soft feeling spread in Ermal’s stomach.

After dinner, they had gone to a small pub with live music and they had to get real close to understand what the other was saying, or at least that was what Ermal used as an excuse when he let his hand fall to Fabrizio’s knee, his lips brushing over the soft skin of his earlobe when he told him about the first time he played the piano, the cool beer giving him a pleasant buzz.

After they left the club, the fresh air sobered them up as they walked along the narrow streets, the night dulling the sounds of the city. Ermal shuddered as the cold seeped into him slowly, Fabrizio’s body not close enough to warm him up.

But he felt like he needed this, needed it to calm down. He felt almost intoxicated and it wasn’t because of the two bottles of beer he had had.

Out of the corners of his eyes, he glanced at the other man, watched him walk slowly over the uneven cobbled street. And to his own surprise, he felt a surge of honest affection rising within him, it wasn’t love, of course it wasn’t, at least not yet. But he knew deep within him, that it could be, that it had the potential when it was just nurtured enough.

“What are you thinking about?” Fabrizio’s voice shocked him out of his thoughts, his steps faltering until he stopped in front of a little shop for handcrafted jewelry, the delicate items barely visibly through the closed shutters.

He looked at the other man, who had stopped as well, watching him expectantly, but the words weighed too heavy on his tongue. Then warm fingers wrapped around his hand, a thumb gently rubbing over his pulse.

“Nothing”, Ermal whispered, finally, the lie not really convincing even to his own ears. He averted his eyes, too afraid what they would give away, his heart racing in his chest.

His breath hitched when suddenly he felt a gentle hand in his hair, caressing his locks, making him look up in surprise.

Fabrizio was looking at him with a questioning gaze, but not prodding, he seemed to be more concerned than anything.

Ermal took a shuddering breath.

“Not now. Not yet.”

Slowly, Fabrizio nodded, biting his lip.

“Okay.”

It was as if some of the confidence had left the other man, uncertainty making his movements clumsy, his hand untangling itself slowly from Ermal’s locks.

Ermal felt like his heart dropped into his gut, his breath speeding up. He hadn’t wanted this, actually, this was the exact opposite of what he wanted. This was totally not going how he planned.

An irrational fear grabbed him, fear that this would be the end, that it would be all over when they said goodbye. But he knew he couldn’t go back to the way they were before. He didn’t want to. 

The thought was suddenly clear in his mind, pushing him, fueling his determination.

He took a step closer to the other man, his fingers gently caressing his arm through the thin jacket.

“Not now, but hopefully soon.”

Fabrizio nodded again, but this time, there was a subdued smile on his face that gave Ermal the last push he needed.

They were standing so close already that he didn’t need to do much more to erase the distance between them, only leaning in slowly, his eyes focused on the expression on Fabri’s face. The smile on it never wavered, making Ermal’s own lips tug up, his eyes closing naturally.

His stomach felt weird, giddy with anticipation in those long seconds before their lips met in a chaste kiss, simply the warm press of lips against each other and yet it still took Ermal’s breath away. And surely, the beers must have been stronger than he had thought after all as he felt dizzy, his head spinning so much that he had to grab on to Fabrizio’s arms to keep steady, the muscles bunching underneath the leather jacket.

It must have lasted only a few seconds, but to Ermal it felt like eternities and he simply wished it would never stop. But they had to separate at one point, Fabrizio staring at him from much too close, so close Ermal could count the freckles on his nose.

He didn’t want their evening to end.

“Would you like to take a walk along the canals?”

A bit surprised, Ermal huffed, his grip on Fabrizio’s arms tightening.

“That’s what I wanted to ask you right now.”

The confident smirk was back now on Fabrizio’s face and Ermal had to admit that it suited him really well.

“So that’s a yes then?”

Instead of a reply, Ermal grabbed his hand and tugged him in the right direction, the silvery shimmer of the moon enlightening Fabrizio’s features and Ermal wondered for a second if the other man was actually real.

He felt it though when warm lips pressed once more against his cheek that was already starting to hurt from all that smiling, he had done that evening.

And he hadn’t even realized when his battery had run out hours ago.

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a short little thingy that I wrote on a whim, I hope you guys like it and please, please leave a comment if you did!!!!


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